Chiquita still fighting to withhold docs on Colombia paramilitary payments

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Colombia Reports

Chiquita still fighting to withhold docs on Colombia paramilitary payments
Oct 15, 2014 posted by Joel Gillin



The US multinational Chiquita is fighting to keep almost 10,000 payment documents from the public eye seven years after it was fined $25 million for its payments Colombian paramilitaries.

Michael Evans of the Washington-based National Security Archive told Colombia Reports that the banana company is still demanding that the US Security and Exchanges Commission (SEC) not release more than 9,600 documents known as the “Chiquita payments documents.”

The National Security Archive filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requesting these documents, which Chiquita tried to block with a reverse-FOIA case in April 2013. The company attempted to argue that the potential publicity and the affect on a jury in Florida considering a civil suit against Chiquita were sufficient reasons to keep the documents private.

The SEC and a U.S. federal court disagreed, saying the speculations did not “satisfy the level of certainty required,” according to Bloomberg News. The case is on appeal.

According to Evans, Chiquita “never expected to win the case” and is simply trying to “string it out as long as they can.”

Read more: http://colombiareports.co/chiquita-still-fighting-withhold-almost-10000-docs-payments-colombian-paramilitaries/

[Dustlawyer]

1. I know one of the U.S. Attorneys who spent a lot of time down there. He had to have his own

security detail everywhere he went. He wore a bullet proof vest and had multiple attempts made on his life. I asked him why did he do it and he responded, "Once you see what is going on down there, how cheap life is to these companies, you cannot just walk away and forget it!" He still has nightmares from it.

[RufusTFirefly]

2. Well, as long as they have cute and catchy commercials, I guess it's OK

One of the many reasons I don't watch TV is so I'm not utterly brainwashed by advertising (and if you think you're immune, guess what? You're actually more manipulable precisely because you smugly think you aren't!)

Companies like Coca-Cola, Chiquita, and Chevron (just sticking with the Cs for now) target the global North with catchy ads and feel-good PR, while they're brutalizing the global South with death squads, sweatshops, union-busting, and environmental degradation.

[Octafish]

3. Wouldn't it be, ah, just if Mr. Holder got his old job back?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-kovalik/lawyer-for-chiquita-in-co_b_141919.html

Secret Government is most profitable for somebody. We can only guess, "Who?"

[PeoViejo]

4. Not just Colombia

Guatemala is another notorious chapter in Chiquita History, as well as other countries.